Trust is one of the Four Pillars of Top Echelon Network . . . and it’s also the focus of this story about honesty and integrity in the Network.

Janet Miller of Computer Management, Inc. here and Jeff Gilbert of Kingfish Technology, LLC have been Trading Partners for quite some time.  In fact, the two have made a total of 14 split placements together, but it was their most recent split that demonstrates the fact their Trading Partner relationship has evolved to what could almost be called the “Masters Level.”

Miller and Gilbert have made three split placements so far in 2013.  In June, the two placed a SFDC Consultant.  Gilbert was the job order recruiter, and Miller was the candidate recruiter.  After the placement had been completed, the candidate gave Gilbert the name of a Senior Sales Director.

“Jeff happened to comment to me that [the candidate] gave him the name of somebody,” said Miller, who’s made a total of 63 placements in Top Echelon Network.  “I don’t place sales people, so I really didn’t give it that much attention.  I didn’t know that Jeff called the candidate.”

Call the candidate Jeff did, and you guessed it . . . place the candidate Jeff did, as well.

So what did he do after that?

“Jeff called me up a month ago, and he said, “Good news, you just made $17,000,’” said Miller.  “He had placed the candidate as a Senior Sales Executive.  He never told me that the candidate was interviewing, but he called me after the placement was made to tell me he was splitting the fee with me.”

The total fee for this split placement: $34,000.

“The candidate who gave Jeff the name of this other candidate never called me and told me that he did so,” said Miller.  “Jeff set up all of the interviews and did all of the preps, and after it was over, he called me to tell me that I had made all this money.”

Needless to say, Miller thinks very highly of Gilbert and values the Trading Partner relationship that she has with him.

“Jeff is such an honest recruiter,” she said.  “What he did with this placement blew me away.”

— — —

“Janet, you continue to amaze me with the quality of the candidates you present . . . not to mention all of the hard work and dedication you put into each and every search!  You are the best!”

Submitted by Jeff Gilbert of Kingfish Technology, LLC regarding his split placement with Janet Miller of Computer Management, Inc.

Position Title—DIRECTOR OF SALES

Fee Percentage—20%

(Editor’s note: this is the 14th split placement that Gilbert and Miller have made together in Top Echelon Network.)

As you’re probably already aware, this year marks the 25^th anniversary of Top Echelon Network.

During those 25 years, there have been a TON of great stories that have happened because of this Network and the people who have been a part of it.

Some of these stories have been collected and published in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog (and before that, The Pinnacle hardcopy newsletter).  However, the majority of have NOT, and that’s something that needs to be rectified.

That’s why we want your Top Echelon Network stories!

Why?  We want to share these stories with other Network Members.  We want to showcase them on our (soon-to-be-new) website.  We want to share them with other recruiters to emphasize that there are great people and great recruiters in this Network.

Now, keep in mind that these can be any type of stories, just so long as they pertain to your Network Membership.  Some examples are as follows:

• A split placement you made under extraordinary circumstances
• The beginning of a Trading Partner relationship
• A memory from a Top Echelon networking event (National Convention, Fall Conference, etc.)

These are just some examples.  By no means does the story have to fall within these categories.  Our goal is to collect these stories and create a “scrapbook” of sorts, a collection of memories that emphasize the camaraderie and friendships that have transpired during the past 25 years.

How do you tell your story?  One of two ways:

1. Email your story to Marketing@TopEchelon.com.
2. Send an email to MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com indicating your desire to be interviewed for a story, and I’ll be glad to give you a call!

Recruiting is a “people business,” and there are many recruiters whose lives have been enriched by the relationships they’ve formed with other people in Top Echelon Network.

We want to hear—and tell—the story of those relationships!>

As promised, we have a NEW short survey for Network recruiters this week.  Last week, our survey was presented as the “Desk Assessment Survey.”

This week, we have the “Membership Assessment Survey.”

This one, as you might have guessed, is more geared toward your Top Echelon Network Membership.  We want to know your likes, as well as your dislikes.  However, once again, this is just a two-question survey.

While the two questions are open-ended questions (as opposed to multiple choice), the survey should still only take two to three minutes to complete.  In fact, it could quite possibly take even less time than that.

Below are the two questions that comprise the “Membership Assessment Survey”:

1. What do you like the most about your Top Echelon Network Membership?  This can be ANY aspect of your Membership, but ideally, it’s the aspect that you believe provides you (and your firm) with the most value.

2. What do you like least about your Top Echelon Network Membership?  This can be ANY aspect of your Membership, but ideally, it’s the aspect that you believe provides the least amount of value to you (and your firm).

As before, there will be a text box in which you can type your answers to these two questions.  Your answers can as long or as short as you would like them to be.  Some recruiters have written only a few words, while other recruiters have written paragraphs.

Click here to take our ‘Membership Assessment’ survey!

If you have any questions about this survey or about your Top Echelon Network Membership, you can contact me at 330.455.1433, x156 or via email at drea@topechelon.com.

Way back in the day, it used to be that only a few Network recruiters made placements with their websites.  They were the “trailblazers,” so to speak, those who recognized the value that a website could bring to their recruiting firm.

Now, everybody’s making website placements!

Okay, not everybody . . . that’s a caffeine-fueled exaggeration.  However, more Network recruiters are making them now with the help of the Hiring Hook Job Board, which allows them to post their jobs to their website (and also to other Network recruiters’ websites).

The result?  More placements and more money, with over half of the placements listed below resulting from one of the Hiring Hook websites for recruiters.

We keep banging this drum, and that’s because recruiters are making more top placements with their website, and they’re making them more frequently.  Sounds like a good reason to bang the drum to us!

Below are the positions that were recently filled by Top Echelon Network recruiters:

• Nurse Manager
• Product Design/Development Engineer
• Physician Assistant
• Director, Distribution Operations
  
• Quality Engineer Mechanical Design
• Turbine Engineer
  
• Account Executive
  
• ERP System Implementation Manager
  

If you work in the above industries and would like to know how you can leverage the Network to make more placements, contact Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS at (330) 455-1433, Ext. 156.

THIS WEEK’S COMPLETED SPLIT PLACEMENTS:

Job order recruiter: Joe Papa, CPC/CTS of American Medical Personnel Services, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Debi Apple of Apple & Assoc. Inc.

Job title: NURSE MANAGER

Fee percentage—15%

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook recruiting website.

— — —

Job order recruiter: Lou Michaels of Lou Michaels Associates, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search

Job title: PRODUCT DESIGN/DEVELOPMENT ENGINEER

Fee percentage—15%

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook recruitment website.

— — —

Job order recruiter: Michael Ott, CPC/CERS of Lakeview Staffing Solutions

Candidate recruiter: Carolyn Williams, CPC of Parke Williams, Ltd.

Job title: PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT

Fee percentage—Flat

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook website for recruiters.

— — —

Job order recruiter: John Wharton, CPC of The Garret Group

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Job title: DIRECTOR, DISTRIBUTION OPERATIONS

Fee percentage—23%

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook website for recruiting and staffing firms.

— — —

Job order recruiter: Russell Schutt, CSP of Progressive Executive, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Jim Strickland of BioSource International

Job title: QUALITY ENGINEER MECHANICAL DESIGN

Fee percentage—Flat

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook recruiter website.

— — —

Job order recruiter: David Wood, CPC of The David Wood Company

Candidate recruiter: Rudy Garcia of Joseph Michaels International

Job title: TURBINE ENGINEER

Fee percentage—25%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

— — —

Job order recruiter: Mike Ehlers of Ehlers Recruiting Partners

Candidate recruiter: Debbie Harper, CPC of Harper Hewes, Inc.

Job title: ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Fee percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

— — —

Job order recruiter: Joe Noto of Regency Search Group

Candidate recruiter: Anjela Mangrum of Mangrum Career Solutions, LLC

Job title: ERP SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION MANAGER

Fee percentage—15%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

Up next in our Top Producers series of posts in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog is a relatively new Network recruiter who has been generating momentum over the past year.

That recruiter is Catherine Bateman of Woods & Paolino Recruiting Solutions, and the momentum she’s generating has been based on the basics of Network Membership,

Catherine Bateman

the fundamentals that every Network recruiter should practice.

Specifically, those basics are Quality and Communication, which just happen to be two of the Four Pillars of Top Echelon Network.

By mastering the fundamentals, Bateman has made four Network split placements in the past seven months, and she’s put herself in a great position to make even more placements in the future.

And THAT is why Quality and Communication are important: because Trading Partner relationships that exhibit these two Pillars are more likely to produce split placements.  Sure, they represent an investment of time and energy, but as you can see, it’s an investment can bring with it a tremendous (financial) return . . .

— — —

What have been the keys to your success in Top Echelon Network?

“The key so far has been finding the right people with whom to work.  I guess success is relative.  I hope to be much more successful going forward.”

What value do you believe the Network provides for your firm?

“Networking between importers and exporters is very valuable.  Since we are primarily exporters at Woods and Paolino Recruiting solutions, [Top Echelon] is our main source of jobs for our candidates.”

Who are the Trading Partners you’ve been working with?

“Paul Johnson, Rob Spaulding, Bob Gabor, and Michael Stuck are some of my favorites.”

Why do the relationships you have with your Trading Partners work so well?

“They are professional and excellent at communication.  They all collaborate to be sure their clients get the best candidates.  I don’t always get the placement, but I do leave the process on their JOs knowing they and I worked together.”

How would you describe the activity level in your niche?  (Bateman places Sales & Marketing and Retail Management professionals, among others.)

“Low.  Although I have experience in a number of areas, I enjoy the Sales & Marketing roles.”

What advice would you give to a new Preferred Member recruiter just starting out?

“Spend time on the front end of working a job order.  Look at the placement history of the importer, the number of job orders they have posted, and call and email them to be sure they communicate.

“In my opinion, success will come from the quality of the Trading Partner over the quality of the job order presented.”

Why are we calling this the “2013 National Convention Edition” of split placements in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog?

Because in all of the split placements listed below, at least one of the recruiters involved attended the 2013 Top Echelon Network National Convention in Florida last week.

In fact, in two of the placements, BOTH of the recruiters involved attended the convention.  Not only that, but some of the recruiters involved in these split placements who didn’t attend the convention DID attend a Top Echelon event in the past.

This is no mere coincidence.  This is hard evidence that Top Echelon recruiter networking conferences and conventions provide value for those who attend them.  And to help you sift through the evidence, the names of the recruiters below who attended the 2013 National Convention have been italicized.

As you can see, the evidence speaks for itself.

Below are the positions that were recently filled by Network recruiters:

• Software Engineer
  
• Support Analyst
  
• Staff Verification Engineer
  
• Insurance/VP Commercial Lines
• Corporate Accounts Manager
  
• Quality Engineer
• Production Supervisor/Process Engineer

If you work within these industries and would like to know more about how you can make split placements in the Network, contact Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS at (330) 455-1433, Ext. 156.

THIS WEEK’S COMPLETED SPLIT PLACEMENTS!

Job order recruiter: Jim Petitpren of The PRA Group, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Judy Kaplan of Prof’l Recruiting Consultants

Job title: SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Fee percentage—30%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

— — —

Job order recruiter: Deb North of Deb North Consulting, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Kristy Bellingham Jones of Jones-Ingham Exec and Sales Recruiting

Job title: SUPPORT ANALYST

Fee percentage—25%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

— — —

Job order recruiter: Marty Stan of Samaritan Technical Professional

Candidate recruiter: Jim Fitzpatrick of Fitzpatrick & Associates

Job title: STAFF VERIFICATION ENGINEER

Fee percentage—15%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

— — —

Job order recruiter: Kirby Butler, CPC of The Butlers Co. Insurance Recruiters

Candidate recruiter: Mike McDonough of General Search and Recruitment

Job title: INSURANCE/VP COMMERICAL LINES

Fee percentage—25%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

— — —

Job order recruiter: Bernie Nutter, CPC of Hire Horizons

Candidate recruiter: Daniel B. Lear of Omega Systems, LLC

Job title: CORPORATE ACCOUNTS MANAGER

Fee percentage—18%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

— — —

Job order recruiter: Ron Sunshine of Ron Sunshine Associates

Candidate recruiter: Eric Berg of JN Adams & Associates, Inc.

Job title: QUALITY ENGINEER

Fee percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

— — —

Job order recruiter: John Peterson of Sun Recruiting, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Ben Lawrence of Career Solutions of Arizona

Job title: PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR/PROCESS ENGINEER
Fee percentage—25%

Action causing split placement: “This is Ben’s first placement as a recruiter!”

Since it’s baseball season, it’s only appropriate that we talk about the “Cal Ripken, Jr.” of Top Echelon Network.

Ripken played his entire Major League Baseball career with the Baltimore Orioles, setting the league record for most consecutive games played at 2,632.  Now that’s consistency.

Sean Napoles, CPC of Career Brokers, Inc. has also maintained an incredibly high level of consistency in the Network during the past 10 years, winning numerous awards in the process.  To date, Napoles has made 176 Network placements for a cash-in total of over $1.5 million.

Of those 176 split placements, he’s made 16 of them with Wendy Johnson of CPS and Professionals Incorporated, including one in this issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.  As one might suspect, Napoles has made multiple placements with numerous Network recruiters down through the years.

Napoles’s split placement with Johnson is one of two that he has in this week’s issue, and it’s also one of seven that he’s made already in the Network in 2013.  If anybody’s going to catch Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group before the end of the year, it’s going to be the “Cal Ripken, Jr.” of Top Echelon Network.

Below are the positions that were recently filled by Network recruiters:

• IT Project Manager
  
• SAP Bi Dev
  
• Manager of Product Automation
  
• Operations Manager – Industrial Manufacturing
  
• RN/Director of Clinical Services – Hospice
  
• Software Engineer – Progress (two of them!)
  

If you work within any of these industries and would like to know more about how you can make split placements in Top Echelon Network, contact Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS at (330) 455-1433, Ext. 156.

THIS WEEK’S COMPLETED SPLIT PLACEMENTS!

Job order recruiter: Wendy Johnson of CPS and Professionals Incorporated

Candidate recruiter: Sean Napoles, CPC of Career Brokers, Inc.

Job title: IT PROJECT MANAGER

Fee percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

— — —

Job order recruiter: Matt Bruns of the North Peak Group

Candidate recruiter: Sean Napoles, CPC of Career Brokers, Inc.

Job title: SAP BI DEV

Fee percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

— — —

Job order recruiter: Nick Stoia, CPC of ASAP Search and Recruiters

Candidate recruiter: Joe Miglizzi of Perspective

Job title: MANAGER OF PRODUCT AUTOMATION

Fee percentage—30%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

— — —

Job order recruiter: Paul Johnson of Paul Johnson & Associates

Candidate recruiter: Dan Lawlor of Dan Lawlor

Job title: OPERATIONS MANAGER – INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURING

Fee percentage—25%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

— — —

Job order recruiter: Troy Randolph of Lea Randolph & Associates, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Jim Strickland of BioSource International

Job title: RN/DIRECTOR OF CLINICAL SERVICES – HOSPICE

Fee percentage—Flat

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook recruitment web design.

— — —

Job order recruiter: Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Bill Law of OraStaff, Inc.

Job title: SOFTWARE ENGINEER – PROGRESS

Fee percentage—15%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

— — —

Job order recruiter: Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Mario Linale of Atlas Consulting Group, LLC

Job title: SOFTWARE ENGINEER – PROGRESS

Fee percentage—15%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

It’s all about the candidates, isn’t it?

Your clients want the right candidates, so YOU want the right candidates, so you look for the right candidates, because that’s what you do.

But sometimes, they’re just more difficult to find . . . and that’s why you rely upon the resources of other Top Echelon Network recruiters.  Because when you rely on their resources, they provide you with the candidates you’re looking for (and more importantly, the candidates your clients are looking for.)

The result is a filled position and a placement fee—a split placement fee, to be more precise.

The Network recruiters below relied upon one another, and that’s why they’re sharing a placement fee, as well as the spotlight in this issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.

If you’d like to be in the Pinnacle spotlight (along with a Trading Partner, of course), then submit your comments with your Completed Placement Form or send them to marketing@topechelon.com.

— — —

“Ron sent me several good candidates who were interviewed, and Steve was just the right fit.  Without Ron’s help, this would have been a much harder position to fill.”

Submitted by Mark Udulutch of Markent Personnel regarding his split placement with Ronald L. Puibello of Ronald L. Puibello Search, Inc.

Position Title—PRODUCT ENGINEERING MANAGER

Fee Percentage—25%

(Editor’s note: This is the third split placement that Udulutch and Puibello have made together in Top Echelon Network.)

— — —

“Laurie, thank you for your hard work and the excellent candidate you provided!  Hopefully, this is the first of many splits!”

Submitted by Melinda O’Neil of Enterprise Search Associates, LLC regarding her split placement with Laurie Gillespie of Dayspring & Associates

Position Title—RISK MANAGER

Fee Percentage—20%

(Editor’s note: This is the first split placement that O’Neill and Gillespie have made together in Top Echelon Network.)

Question: What’s the quickest way to get special mention in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog?

Answer: Make two (or more placements) in one week.

Of course to do that, you just have to send us the checks for two split placements at the same time . . . just like Network recruiter Amy Dunn of Technology Recruiting Solutions in Houston, Texas did recently!

That’s why we’re highlighting Dunn, one of the top recruiters who has made 24 split placements during her time as a Preferred Member recruiter in Top Echelon Network.  That total includes five placements in 2011 and six placements in 2012.

Dunn specializes in the permanent placement of Information Technology, Accounting/Finance, Human Resources, and occasional Sales and Marketing professionals nationwide.  Be sure to visit her Recruiter Profile for more information.

After you do that, we invite you to check out all of the positions that were recently filled through the joint effort of Top Echelon Network recruiters:

• Business Analyst – Financial Systems
• Senior .NET Developer
• Risk Manager
• Maintenance Technician
• Production Supervisor

If you have any questions about how YOU can make more split placements in Top Echelon Network and generate more revenue for your recruiting firm, contact Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS at (330) 455-1433, Ext. 156.

THIS WEEK’S COMPLETED SPLIT PLACEMENTS!

Job order recruiter: Amy Dunn of Technology Recruiting Solutions

Candidate recruiter: Debi Apple of Apple & Assoc. Inc.

Job title: BUSINESS ANALYST – FINANCIAL SYSTEMS

Fee percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook staffing agency website design.

— — —

Job order recruiter: Amy Dunn of Technology Recruiting Solutions

Candidate recruiter: Doris Painter of Painter & Associates

Job title: SENIOR .NET DEVELOPER
Fee percentage—18%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

— — —

Job order recruiter: Frank Sommer of SearchStars, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Jeffrey Gipson of The James Allen Companies, Inc.

Job title: RISK MANAGER

Fee percentage—25%

Action causing split placement: “Amy Simpson, candidate recruiter, saw shared [job] order and responded.”

— — —

Job order recruiter: Kenneth Lowry of Lowry Personnel Services

Candidate recruiter: Thomas Edwards of Front Line Solutions, LLC

Job title: MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN

Fee percentage—25%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

— — —

Job order recruiter: Brenda Wylie-Biggs, CPC of KB Search Team, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Job title: SAFETY ENGINEER

Fee percentage—25%

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook website for recruiters.

— — —

Job order recruiter: Don Lewis of The Doepker Group

Candidate recruiter: Bob Wick of Career Center of Cincinnati, Inc.

Job title: PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR

Candidate $ per hour—$20.19

Action causing contract split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

If you’re a new Preferred Member in Top Echelon Network and you want to find out how to enjoy quick success, then you would do well to read the story of Mario Linale of Atlas Consulting Group, LLC.

We recently chronicled how Linale made three split placements within six months of joining the Network, all three with fellow Preferred Member recruiter Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group, Inc.

In that blog post, Stuck commented on those placements, and more specifically, about the various aspects of his Trading Partner relationship with Linale that work so well.  In this blog post, Linale describes those some aspects and also presents a blueprint for new Network recruiters to follow.

As for those recruiters who have been in the Network for quite some time, this story also serves as an example of how new Preferred Members can turn into great Trading Partners.  A year ago, you didn’t even know who they were, and now you’re making money with them.

And that’s the value that a split placement network like Top Echelon offers to recruiters.

— — —

“My firm, Atlas Consulting Group, LLC is a new member of Top Echelon. We have really enjoyed our tenure so far and a large part of it is due to our interaction and successful partnership with Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group.

“This has been such a successful partnership primarily because of Michael’s professionalism and competency in managing his clients. We have functioned in a recruiting/sourcing capacity for positions with Michael’s clients. I can firmly state that when we work on a position for one of Michael’s clients, we know that we will always get feedback, usually an interview request and that the offers will come!  His positions are never the proverbial ‘black hole’ that unfortunately sometimes occurs in our industry, especially when partnering with other firms. We know that our work for Gables will never be a waste of time.

“Another factor in our success has been our constant communication. We are both on the same page when it comes to communicating the changing details of his positions and our candidates and we update each other in real time. I believe we are both truly passionate about our businesses, our reputations and getting deals done!

“Michael goes a step beyond also in his role of managing his clients and their positions, often he will also get involved in managing and communicating with our candidates. He always does what is appropriate in this regard and will not ‘step on our toes,’ but only help when necessary.

“We look forward to a long standing relationship with Michael Stuck, Gables Search Group and also working with other members of Top Echelon.”